Rachel Reeves has finally admitted she got it badly wrong over her decision to cut the winter fuel payment for pensioners. The Chancellor has refused multiple to apologise for the policy which pensioners, campaigners and even her own MPs branded “cruel”.
But the fact that she has been forced into a humiliating U-turn is close enough to a mea culpa. I asked Ms Reeves if she would like to apologise to Daily Express readers during an interview today.
While she avoided an apology the under-pressure Chancellor did admit she “empathised” with the hardest hit pensioners – particularly those just above the pension credit level.
And she claimed she “understood” the concerns of our readers and the millions of other people to have been affected by the cut and the worry it has caused.
Despite what the Chancellor says about the economy being on a stronger footing than it was when she announced the policy last July, there is no doubt this U-turn is largely down to political reasons.
No sooner had Labour suffered a local elections drubbing – plus an embarrassing by-election defeat – at the hands of Reform UK the smoke signals coming out of No 10 were that some kind of U-turn was coming.
Politically this has been a disaster for Labour and Ms Reeves.
Only time will tell how badly the party will be impacted by this.
Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch have already seized on it for political gain.
But what it boils down to is doing the right thing.
The Daily Express has campaign relentlessly to bring about this change ever since it was announced by the Chancellor.
It was perhaps notable that she chose to speak directly to our readers on the day that the details were finally announced.